AMAZING HEROES #62 1985 PREVIEW SPECIAL, M-S

Showcasing more of the 1985 AMAZING HEROES Preview Special, which gave a rundown of what to expect in all of the comics slated to be published in the coming year. These issues in particular give an interesting look not only at what was being planned, but some insight into what the individual creators and editors were thinking when they did it.

Let’s pick up with this double-spread ad for the upcoming CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. There was really no comic book that more demanded attention during the year that it was being published, and it opened up DC to an entirely new audience that it attracted, making the company more of a player within the new Direct Market. For all that it was flawed, it’s still likely the best Event series ever done, in terms of the high level of quality apparent throughout it and the impact it had on the DC publishing line thereafter.

Eclipse announces that they’re going to be repackaging Alan Moore, Gary Leech and Alan Davis’s Marvelman strip from the UK anthology series WARRIOR in full color in comic book format. Over half of teh coverage centers around whether Marvelman will be able to keep his original name for this venture–he will not, being christened Miracleman before publication.

I don’t believe that MS. QUOTED TALES ever saw the light of day.

ADDITION: Turns out that it did. Who knew?

NICK FURY VS SHIELD took a long while to see print, and then it was released in a squarebound format, with two issues’ worth of material per issue.

NOISE CANDY never happened.

None of these issues of PRIMER ever made it to the stands. The series ended with #6.

Joe Kubert’s THE REDEEMER was famously a no-show. As was ROBIN RED AND THE LUTINS as far as I can tell.

SHADOWMASTERS also took several years to come out, and was released squarebound when it did.

6 thoughts on “AMAZING HEROES #62 1985 PREVIEW SPECIAL, M-S

  1. It’s interesting to read Roy Thomas’ plans for Secret Origins before the book switched over to the double sized split format in issue #6, with one Golden Age hero and one modern hero each issue (Undoubtedly a more commercial choice, but one that I doubt made Thomas very happy, as it wrested some of control of the book away from him).

    Gil Kane didn’t draw the origin of the Golden Age Green Lantern. It was drawn by George Freeman, who Thomas mentions here as being planned to pencil the Sandman’s origin. That one ended up being drawn by Michael Bair. Gil Kane didn’t do the Robin origin, either, as SO never did the Earth-Two/Golden Age Robin. When they did the origin of Nightwing in issue #13, it was penciled by a young Erik Larsen and had a heavy emphasis on New Teen Titans continuity. And I don’t think they ever got more than half a cover out of Jack Kirby, for the issue where the Guardian’s origin was drawn by Arvell Jones. Gerry Conway didn’t write the eventual Martian Manhunter origin, either, as he was long gone from the JLA by the time the Secret Origins got to him.

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